“There’s 920 instances of child soldiers, forcing children to fight. There’s evidence that some of these soldiers are parts of al-Qaida. There’s also evidence that some of these soldiers are nothing more than highway robbers,” said Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., chairman of the Subcommittee of Federal Spending Oversight and Emergency Management.

Despite much of the aid for the country being cut off since that report, the committee is shining a light on an $8 million grant still in place, including $4.3 million in stipends for the Somali National Army.

“Our deficit this year will be a trillion dollars. Where is the money coming from? And also buying uniforms in the Somalian Army and paying their salary just isn’t something I think is a good use of American taxpayer dollars,” Paul said in an interview last week.

According to the State Department, the U.S.-Somalia relationship is an important one with goals of promoting political and economic stability, helping alleviate the humanitarian crisis, and preventing the use of Somalia as a safe haven for terrorists from around the globe. But without proper oversight, the concern now is that that mission is nearly impossible to accomplish.